The present invention relates generally to telecommunications and more particularly, to a system and method for monitoring telecommunication network activities.
It is often desired to monitor specific activities of various aspects of a telecommunication network. Traditionally, the monitoring has been hardware specific. For example, a monitoring system can show if a node or link in a network is up or down, and can set off alarms accordingly. Such monitoring works well with a realtime analysis of the hardware in the network.
However, it is often desired to monitor other aspects of the network. Consider for example a synchronized optical network (a “SONET”) ring or chain. SONET was proposed by Bellcore in the middle 1980s as a standard for connecting fiber-optic transmission systems. SONET defines interface standards at the physical layer, including a hierarchy of interface rates that allow data streams at different rates to be multiplexed. SONET establishes Optical Carrier (“OC”) levels, or speeds. Typical OC levels include OC-1 for 51.85 Mbps, OC-3 for 155.52 Mbps, Oc-12 for 622.08 Mbps, Oc-24 for 1.244 Gbps, Oc-48 for 2.488 Gbps, and Oc-192 for 9.9532 Gbps.
One way to track facility assignments and equipment inventory in a SONET ring or chain is to use a system called the Trunks Integrated Record Keeping System (“TIRKS”). TIRKS is commonly used to help a regional bell operating company (“RBOC”) determine if facilities exist to provide service, track order completion, fulfill circuit orders, and perform inventory planning.
Although TIRKS provides a great detail of information, the method of acquiring the information is very long and tedious. For example, in order to retrieve information such as consumption patterns of a SONET ring or chain, many steps must be performed on TIRKS. The information provided by TIRKS is in a raw-data format, and must be manually complied into a tabular form to represent the desired information. For a typical SONET ring, this process takes between two to six hours.
What is desired is a system and method that allows a user to quickly determine the status of the SONET ring. This status can be related to such things as available bandwidth and other consumption-related items.
Furthermore, what is desired is an interactive system and method for monitoring a network's status.
Further still, what is desired is a system and method that can provide a great deal of information about a network to a user. The information should be provided in a usable fashion, and should be responsive to user specific information for desired components of the network.
Furthermore, what is desired is a system and method for monitoring a network's status in a very fast manner, as compared to conventional techniques such as running a TIRKS online report facility.